Erling Haaland

Although he failed to score in his breakthrough season at Bryne, Haaland was offered a trial by German club 1899 Hoffenheim before eventually moving to Molde to play under Ole Gunnar Solskjær.

Haaland made 16 total senior appearances for Bryne.

Haaland's debut in the Eliteserien came on 4 June, being brought on as a 71st-minute substitute against Sarpsborg 08 and receiving a yellow card in just over a minute of play on the pitch.

Erling Braut Haaland (born 21 July 2000) is a Norwegian professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Manchester City and the Norway national team.

Considered one of the best players in the world, he is known for his speed, strength, positioning, and finishing inside the box.

In his debut Premier League season, Haaland broke the record for the most goals scored by a player in a single season, with 36.

Haaland was born on 21 July 2000 in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, as his father Alfie Haaland was playing for Leeds United in the Premier League at the time.

In 2004, at the age of three, he moved to Bryne, his parents' hometown in Norway.

Along with playing football from an early age, Haaland took part in various other sports as a child, including handball, golf, and track and field.

He also reportedly achieved a world record in his age category for the standing long jump when he was five, with a recorded distance of 1.63 metres in 2006.

Haaland started in the academy of his hometown club Bryne at the age of five.

During the 2015 and 2016 seasons, he played for Bryne FK 2 (Bryne's reserve team) in the Norwegian fourth tier and impressed, scoring 18 goals in 14 matches.

He debuted for Bryne 2 on 5 October 2015 in the Group 6 of the 2015 fourth division against Start reserves (0–1) and five days later he scored his first goal on senior level against Hei in an away 2–1 defeat at Heistad.

The following season he appeared more often in the Bryne 2 squad and he scored his first career hat-trick on 19 September 2016, aged 16 and 2 months, in an away 5–3 win over Vard Haugesund 2 in the Group 6 of the Norwegian fourth tier.

In May 2016, Gaute Larsen was sacked as Bryne manager, and youth coach Berntsen was promoted to caretaker manager.

Having worked closely with Haaland in other youth teams, the interim manager handed the teenager his first start, three months before his 16th birthday.

His first game with Bryne FK was a second-tier 1. divisjon match against Ranheim on 12 May.

After having initially being deployed as a winger, Berntsen put Haaland in his favoured central role as a striker after a few matches.

On 1 February 2017, Molde announced the signing of 16-year-old Haaland.

He made his debut for the club on 26 April in a Norwegian Cup match against Volda TI, scoring on his debut in a 3–2 win.

On 6 August 2017, Haaland scored the winner for Molde in the 77th minute against Tromsø IL, his first goal in the league.

His second strike of the season came on 17 September, as he bagged the decisive goal against Viking FK in a 3–2 victory.

In the aftermath of the game, Haaland received criticism from teammate Björn Bergmann Sigurðarson for celebrating his goal towards Viking supporters.

Haaland finished his first season at Molde with four goals in 20 appearances.

On 1 July 2018, Haaland scored four goals in the opening 21 minutes against Brann, securing his team a 4–0 victory over the unbeaten league leaders at the time.

After the match, Molde manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær compared Haaland's style of play to Belgian forward Romelu Lukaku, and said the club had rejected several bids for the striker from different clubs.

In the following match a week later, Haaland continued his scoring run with a brace against Vålerenga in a 5–1 win.

He scored his first goal in UEFA competition on 26 July, converting a penalty in Molde's 3–0 Europa League qualifying victory against KF Laçi.

Due to a sprained ankle, Haaland did not participate in Molde's last three league matches of the season.

Coming through the youth system, Haaland played for Norwegian sides Bryne and Molde, before relocating to Austria with Red Bull Salzburg in January 2019.

His performances there earned him a move to Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund, where he won the DFB-Pokal in 2021.

In the summer of 2022, he transferred to Manchester City for a fee of €60 million (£51.2 million), and was instrumental in the club winning a continental treble in his debut campaign; his 52 goals across all competitions was the most ever for a Premier League player.

Haaland was named the league's Young Player and Player of the Season, becoming the first player to win both awards in the same year.

In the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup, he won the tournament's Golden Boot after scoring a record nine goals in a single match.

He made his senior international debut in September 2019, and is currently the nation's second-highest all-time top goalscorer.

Haaland has won several individual awards and broken various records during his career, including the 2020 Golden Boy award, while in 2021 he was named Bundesliga Player of the Season, in addition to his inclusion in the FIFA FIFPro World11 for 2021, 2022 and 2023.

He has also broken multiple Premier League records, including most goals scored in a season, the quickest individual to score two, three, four and five hat-tricks, and the first in league history to score hat-tricks in three consecutive home games.

In 2023, he won the Premier League Golden Boot, the European Golden Shoe and the Gerd Müller Trophy for his goalscoring success.

In the same year, his performances led him to be named UEFA Men's Player of the Year, IFFHS World's Best Player and finish runner-up in the Ballon d'Or.

Haaland has represented Norway at various youth levels.